With the Beijing Olympics 2008 event starting Friday three of the major Indian telecom service providers - RCom, BPL Mobile and Tata Communications – are launching services aimed at tapping the communication potential of the event.
This will be perhaps the first Indian telecos offering services for a global event and that too for global and roaming subscribers.
Reliance Globalcom – the arm for Anil Ambani controlled Reliance Communications’ (RCom) global operations – is offering a special edition international SIM card across 12 countries aimed at sports fans travelling to China.
The card enables Indian sport fans travelling to China to make and receive calls at rates starting from Rs 10 per minute. For people from other countries, the card offers roaming rates that are lower by 70-85 per cent, compared with rates of other global operators. Reliance Globalcom, with the launch of this card, is aiming at tripling the sales of its global SIM cards.
The company has also increased bandwidth allocation on key international trunk routes by 3-5 times, to cater to the demand for live video for broadcasters.
“This is the first time we are going to directly cater to the international calling needs of customers directly,” a Reliance Globalcom official said.
BPL Mobile has launched a wireless access protocol (WAP) portal on its handsets, that lets fans track the games on their mobile phone. The service 'Olympics@Cafe' lets subscribers track the schedule of events, medal tallies, news, action-packed pictures, trivia, profiles of sportspersons, records made and previous ones among others. The company has tied up with Mobile ESPN for the service.
"Our subscriber feedback quite clearly articulates the need for content focused on sports, music, fun and entertainment," BPL Mobile Vice President (VAS & Devices) Sunzay Passari said.
Tata Communications is launching prepaid roaming and its Intelligent CAMEL eXchange (ICX), a service the company claims will reduce roaming charges. It also said that four global mobile operators and a Chinese telecom major would use Tata Communications’ services. The service will allow the Chinese carrier to offer inbound prepaid roaming for its roaming partners in time for the Olympic Games starting later this week in Beijing.
“Market response to Intelligent CAMEL eXchange is strong,” said Allan Chan, Executive Vice President, Mobility Services for Tata Communications.
